HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth women’s volleyball team began a five-match home stand with a 3-2 win in Ivy League play against Harvard on Friday inside Leede Arena. The Big Green jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead and held off the Crimson rally for their second straight five-set win versus Harvard in the Upper Valley.

With the win, Dartmouth (10-10, 3-5 Ivy) has won three consecutive matches against Harvard (10-7, 5-3 Ivy) in Hanover. All three of the Green and White’s conference victories this season have come in five sets. After starting league play 0-4, head coach Erin Lindsey’s squad has won three of their last four with the lone setback coming last Saturday at Penn.

Dartmouth never trailed in the opening set en route to a 25-23 win. The two teams stayed close as the Big Green’s largest lead came after a Paige Caridi kill made it 13-7. With the game tied at 21, Dartmouth scored four the final six points to take a 1-0 lead. Down the stretch, a pair of Crimson attack errors and kills from Molly Kornfeind and Lucia Pohlman put the game out of reach.

In the second game, the Ancient Eight rivals traded the games first 32 points. With the set tied at 16, the team from the Upper Valley went on a 9-1 run to score a 25-17 victory. Dartmouth scored the final three points as a pair of Harvard attack errors gave the Green a 2-0 edge.

Harvard stole the momentum back, taking both the third and fourth sets. Dartmouth fought tough, losing the sets by a combined six points.

In the decisive fifth game, the Big Green scored eight of the first 10 points to take the momentum back and excite the crowd on Dig Pink Disco night. After a Caridi kill made it 14-10, a Harvard attack error gave Dartmouth its third Ivy win of the season.

For the third straight game, freshman Emily Astarita led the Big Green attack, registering a match-high 17 kills. Paige Caridi had her best game in league play producing 16 kills and 11 digs. Freshman Stacey Benton had another strong performance, dishing out 41 assists while adding a service ace and 11 digs.

On the defensive end, Dartmouth had a season-high 12 team blocks. Kaira Lujan led the charge with six (3-solo, 3-assist) while senior co-captain Elisa Scudder added four (1-solo, 3-assist). Freshman Julia Lau had a team-leading 15 digs for Dartmouth.

Dartmouth returns to the court next weekend, Nov. 1-2, as it welcomes Yale and Brown to town. The game with the Bulldogs gets underway Friday at 7 p.m. and the tilt with the Bears is slated for Saturday at 5 p.m.